There’s horrible evil in the world. We all know this on some level and always have known it. One of the best aspects of the human spirit is that we still go on despite knowing this, probably because we are genetically gifted with the ability to push horror out of our minds. If we couldn’t do that we’d just give up and never bring children into the world. Of course that means when we’re reminded of its existence it’s shocking and jarring.

We’ll try to understand it all. Ultimately we’ll fail, because that’s the nature of unspeakable evil. But in the meantime we’ll hopefully spend some time remembering how precious and fleeing our time is here and appreciating all that we’ve had and all that we’ve lost.

There’s nothing self-congratulatory about calling out a blogger for writing a bit that maybe be “beyond his scope”. I mean, you didn’t call attention to yourself or anything. Just a sweet, loveable, pookie-bear, that’s what you are, Big Marty.

Craig, your words are generic and pointless. You had nothin to say, and I wouldn’t put it past you to have manufactured a few sentences for the sake of appearing relavent, hit counts, the possibility of a political discussion etc. if you don’t like my criticism you can find a job with less exposure.

Marty’s comments make me wonder if he is just slumming here until Rotten Tomatoes reinstates commenting.

Craig Calcaterra - Jul 20, 2012 at 11:35 AM

I can handle your criticism just fine. I merely find it pointless and sad.

nekotman - Jul 20, 2012 at 11:43 AM

The shit stays the same. Only the depth varies.

cur68 - Jul 20, 2012 at 11:49 AM

A double down? Nice of you to use this event (this pointless, sad tragic event) to point out Craig’s writing flaws as you see them. I’m sure the people around you in your real “life” find this trait useful. Useful for pointing out what a waste of space you are. Get lost Marty.

thefalcon123 - Jul 20, 2012 at 11:58 AM

Dear Marty,

Hi. How are you doing? A couple of questions:

1. Why are you so offended by a highly-opinionated, sports themed blogger posting a non-baseball story that would in fact interest roughly of his readers. I clicked on this, not because it would be the best source for news on this subject, but because I was generally interested in what Craig had to say about it. Furthermore, I find most of the commentors on here provide interesting, insightful opinions on a variety of topics, even when I disagree. That’s why I clicked.
…why did you?

2. What is the point of this? I will comment if I disagree, agree strongly or generally feel I have anything witty or funny to add (it often turns out I don’t and I just think I do). What I, and most other commenters don’t do is post to say that the article itself shouldn’t exist. What is the point of that other than being a waste of time? If you didn’t care what Craig had to say on this subject, why did you click? And then burn lean tissue typing two separate comments saying you don’t care? It’s really strange.

And I think Craig is fine with criticism. He just pointed out that you were a moron…something we can all agree on.

paperlions - Jul 20, 2012 at 11:59 AM

The first I heard about this was from Craig’s post, as I tend to avoid the sensationalized, propoganda-laden crap fest that is the US News. So….it wasn’t totally pointless, as I am sure it informed many of us that spend more of our mornings reading about the finer things in life than the news.

Don’t bother arguing with this clown. He is the same guy who made blatant homophobic comments last year then disappeared when he was called out. Marty is nothing but a troll coward. Doesn’t deserve the attention.

You freaking prick. Craig decides to take some time to aknowledge a terrible, tragic event in our country, and you chastise him for it? Nowhere does he claim to be the unequivocal news source on this situation. Normally I’m not for attacking dumbasses on the internet, but I’m going to make an exception for you. Your lack of emotion or sympathy towards a situation this tragic is utterly disgusting and disgraceful. Stop making this about you, you neolithic, narcisistic ass hole. Show some compassion for the people actually AFFECTED by this terrible incident.

And on another note, who are the 6 morons that thumbs upped Marty’s comment?

I just don’t understand what happens in someone’s brain where they can actually do something like this. Obviously, severe mental illness could be issue, like in the Loughner case, could be a factor. But in many cases, the people appear to be sane (though I should say “sane” instead). Whether by some incident, a piling on, or just growing up with a fucked up series of values, they can somehow devalue a human life right in front of them. They apparently lose any sense of empathy, or worse, they understand and just don’t care.

The scariest thing about situations like this is that there is essentially nothing you can do to prevent similar situations in the future. We aren’t going to put metal detectors in every movie theater, (or park, crowded sidewalk, everywhere else people gather) or lock up everyone just for seeming shiftless and weird. It happened before, and it will happen again. Really, the only solace is trying to rationally remember that these instances are extremely rare. Sadly, that won’t work for the families and friends of the 12 people killed and wounded here.

It seems like a lot of people are focusing on this. Why does it matter? Something awful happens to somebody’s kid (something that could happen anywhere and at any time of day, by the way) and we want to insinuate that bad parenting was somehow a factor? There are a lot bigger fish to fry in a story like this.

The “story” of the child IS getting a ton of attention. Makes the story more tragic / a bigger headline. But the fact of the matter is that this kid was not hurt in a crib at home at midnight, where any I can only guess most 3 month old kids are at that time of the day. As far as parenting, well, different people have different ways about them and different priorities.

hasbeen5 - Jul 20, 2012 at 10:27 AM

3 month olds sleep for several hours at a time. Even if they woke up, it’s not like they’d remember the movie, or be influenced by the violence.

When my daughter was about that age her mother was hysterical with boredom (breast feeding is boring). Going to a movie really helped, even when it meant taking the baby. The issue here isn’t the baby being there. The issue is that lunatic with the gun.

Who gives a shit what time the movie was at? So what if the kid was there? The child should have been safe NO MATTER WHAT TIME IT WAS. Victim blaming is alive and well, I see.

ralphdibny - Jul 20, 2012 at 1:13 PM

Many 3-month-olds don’t have established sleep patterns yet; they are up half, or all, the night. Plus, contrary to popular belief, many kids sleep better with white noise than they do with silence. I’ve known many, many parents who have taken their infants to the movies because the kid will sleep–just like parents will drive around all night if the kid sleeps in the car better than in the crib. I hope you wouldn’t accuse a parent who was driving around at midnight and was hit by a drunk driver of bad parenting. The fault lies with the wrongdoer, not the victim.

Precisely. Blaming the parents is little more than victim blaming. Its intellectual laziness and presumptive that all parenting should be the same as the decrier’s otherwise you are horribly wrong. At 3 months a goodly number of mothers are still struggling with depression and feeling well enough to get out of the house. Shit like this shouldn’t happen to a couple just because they chose an odd time to go to a movie. For fuck’s sake, its not like they went there KNOWING this would happen, is it? I can’t understand how people can’t pull their heads out of their self absorbed asses and see that.

jon623 - Jul 21, 2012 at 4:09 PM

Why is THAT the part that trips you up? Would I take a three month old to a midnight movie? Probably not… but I’m pretty sure the people-getting-shot-for-no-reason part of this story evokes more emotions from me than the question of why someone chooses to raise their child a certain way.

The “story” of the child IS getting a ton of attention. Makes the story more tragic / a bigger headline. But the fact of the matter is that this kid was not hurt in a crib at home at midnight, where any I can only guess most 3 month old kids are at that time of the day. As far as parenting, well, different people have different ways about them and different priorities.

The entire thing is incredibly tragic, but how the hell does this happen? How the hell does a person end up at the site of two random shootings on opposite sides of the continent around a month apart? I am absolutely speechless.

Well said, Craig. Maybe my love for baseball is in my life to just be a diversion from it all. I can’t stop thinking about this today, and I can’t bring myself to write my daily strand of posts about baseball, a child’s game. Life is too delicate.

Thank you Craig for putting a face on one of the innocents.
Today we a have a young society weaned on violent video games. Not too mention our own generation who are shown clips of a video game war with no pictures of the human destruction after the smart bomb does its job. It is called desensitization. It is time for journalists to show the face of death and not just our own. I firmly believe the pictures from Nam shown nightly of the fighting and flag draped coffins being unloaded on U.S. soil help end the war and changed a generations view.
Some where in the past twenty years this all changed.
I am all for the second ammendment and the right to bear arms. Although i am not a hunter or recreational shooter. I have friends that are. Nowhere does the right to bear arms give you the right to use assault rifles,full automatic rifles or grenades for that matter. The NRA has made a mockery of this ammendment and since they can’t police themselves,it is time to step in with updated laws.

“Today we a have a young society weaned on violent video games. Not too mention our own generation who are shown clips of a video game war with no pictures of the human destruction after the smart bomb does its job. It is called desensitization. It is time for journalists to show the face of death and not just our own.”

I would buy this premise our murder rates in the US hadn’t dropped *dramatically* since the 80s and early 90s. By and large, America is the safest it’s ever been. In 2010, there were roughly the same number of murders as there were in 1969. This is not per capita either, this is in real numbers. 14,760 people were murder in 1969, 14,748 were murdered in 2010, despite a population increase of 107 million.

Those who jump to the conclusion that our society as a whole is more violent and awful and that the past was so much less so are very mistaken. Though this situation is awful, and 15,000 murder a year is unacceptable, our society as a whole is less violent than it used to be. Even our recent ill-advised military adventures are far less willing to target civilians and our society is far less accepting of US deaths than it was in years past. This things are awful, but these are positive signs.

You are confusing the crack epidemic and its off the wall murder rates that ran its course after it obliterated most major inner cities in the late eighties and nineties with a well known government policy instituted by the government after studies had shown the war images shown on TV news nightly during the Viet Nam War had contributed to lack of support for the war effort. The best recruiting tool ever developed for the armed services are these games. Just look at these games and titles and then take a trip to any recruitment office and you will see the big picture.
Been to Columbine lately?
Here is my profile of our latest disinfranchised and misunderstood youthful murderer
Emotionally stunted and angry at the world
More likely a loner who lived in a game or online fantasy world where revenge against perceived wrongs were met with swift retribution and death.
At some point or trigger decided to act out fantasy.
I don’t believe for one minute these games or shows effect the general population and most people who view shoot em up westerns or violent cop shows are not going out acting on their impulses or fantasies. The fact remains over time without any supervision or checks ,,,behaviors are affected.
While this not scientific…Women portrayed as ho’s and sexual tools in the rap genre for past twenty years would beg to differ. Maybe that is why rape and sexual assaults are at all time highs in this country. Food for thought.

Reflex - Jul 21, 2012 at 5:48 AM

No, the crack epidemic does not explain why murders are down to the same levels as they were in the 60’s. The 70’s did not have a crack epidemic, nor did the early 2000’s, yet rates are lower now than they were then. Despite a massive 50% increase in population. Quite frankly, at the end of the day, violence simply is not nearly as prevalent as it once was in this nation. Virtually every indicator shows that. You put forth personal theories about video games and movies that you believe make people more willing to commit violence, yet other explanations, such as people having such games as outlets for violent tendencies, actually fit the results of the past few decades much better than your theory which seems to run counter to the real numbers.

BTW, rape and sexual assaults have risen almost exactly at the same rate as acceptance of those crimes as not being the fault of the victim has risen. In other words: Its a reporting issue, now that we do not brand victims as ‘deserving’ of what happened, more victims are willing to come forward. Furthermore, more laws are on the books for those crimes today than were in the past(for instance, it is now illegal to rape your wife, something that did not used to be the case), resulting in more ‘crimes’ committed.

Facts, you know. As opposed to anecdotes and your desire to connect dots that fit your personal view of the world.

Glenn - Jul 20, 2012 at 10:51 AM

I hope people realize that tragedies like this are a result of our lack of treatment of the mentally ill. Starting in the 80’s when institutions were closed (under the guise of individual rights, but really about reducing government) to the present near impossibility to get proper medical treatment for the mentally ill, we ignore this problem. Check into random acts of violence in the news. If it isn’t about drugs, it is usually a mentally ill person who is not getting the care that they need. I have seen this within my won circle of family and friends, including people who supposedly have insurance. The mentally ill are not good advocates for what is best for themselves and the insurance companies are glad to deny treatment.

I agree with you, but for the most part you can’t force someone to be treated. Being depressed and angry is what they know, and many arent intersted in being helped, especially if they are sociopathic. Wish is was as simples let’s take better care of the mentally ill.

Marty you arent as important as you seem to think. In fact you’re quite the loser trying to stir up a fight with a blogger on a message board. Too bad it wasn’t you in the theater instead of this poor woman.

People are focusing on the 3 month old because they just can’t rap their heads around somebody just gunning down an infant. I think the ‘victim blaming’ is more just people having trouble understanding a 3 month old being intentionally shot to death.

Yeah, I don’t endorse bring a 3 month old to the theater or anything, but it’s hardly unprecedented. Sometimes mom and dad really want to go to a movie and no baby is going to stop them. I don’t think it’s bad parenting, just a bit rude of other theater goers. Maybe it’s something that can be brought up in the event, say…the kid is crying the whole movie. Even then, here should be that conversation:

Person 1: I want to see “the Adventures of Milo and Otis II” and some jerk had a baby that was screaming that whole time”.
Person 2: Drag. It sure is hot today.

That’s it. And in an event where 12 people are brutally murdered by a psychopath, the presence of an infant at the theater is such so impossibly irrelevant to anything, it’s shocking *anything at all* was said about it, much less all of this. (Speaking of the judgements being made at the parents, not about the baby’s injuries, which is horrific).

Sadly, with modern psychological knowledge, this is probably fairly easy to understand. Abuse/neglect can facilitate such things in extreme cases. There’s also antisocial personality disorder, which affects a very small amount of the population but which results in entirely me-first behavior.

if theirs anything good to come out of this I hope security at normal places is taken more seriously and people in need start getting support whether it be through church counseling or just being around loving supporting people this type of thing isn’t acceptable no matter how rare it is people need to get help so this doesn’t happen